You are here

Professor Lyndal Roper Shortlisted for Wolfson History Prize

Fellow and Regius Professor of History Lyndal Roper’s latest book, Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Wolfson History Prize 2017.

Professor Roper’s historical biography of Martin Luther was published in June 2016 to wide acclaim, and was listed as a Book of the Year by the Guardian, Sunday Times, New Statesman, Spectator and History Today.

The Wolfson History Prize judges said of the book: “Powerfully written with superb control of material, Roper’s book is highly skilled in opening up the vivid social context of Luther’s Germany.”

The Wolfson History Prize was first established in 1972, and this is the first time in its history that it has issued a shortlist. Each shortlisted author will receive £4,000, and the overall winner, who will receive a prize of £40,000, will be announced at a reception in London on Monday 15th May.

Speaking as the shortlist was announced, Lyndal said: "I’m astonished and delighted. This is a superb short list. The Wolfson Prize is important because it aims to recognise historical writing that can reach a wider public, and all these books do this."

The full shortlist is below:

Daniel Beer, The House of the Dead: Siberian Exile Under the Tsar, published by Allen Lane.

Chris Given-Wilson, Henry IV, published by Yale University Press

Christopher de Hamel, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, published by Allen Lane.

Sasha Handley, Sleep in Early Modern England, published by Yale University Press.

Lyndal Roper, Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet, published by The Bodley Head.

Matthew Strickland, Henry the Young King, 1155-1183, published by Yale University Press.